Meydan Preview for Thursday Pt 1

Some high quality racing kicks off once again at Meydan on Thursday as the Dubai Carnival is now in full swing and looks set to get even better as we get closer to the penultimate day of the meeting. We have a number of Graded contests and there are some solid betting opportunities to be had for the savvy punter. As usual, the prices are good but the races are deep so expect a few good payouts once we’re through the six thoroughbred contests of the day. 

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The opening contest isn’t exactly the best race you’ll ever see but it’s a competitive weight for age handicap with Godolphin’s Winterlude looming as the early betting favourite ahead of this one. With Mickael Barzalona ready to get the call here on this Street Cry/Sadler’s Wells combination, you can expect him to come on nicely in his fourth year. 

Unraced since last October in a winning effort at Lingfield, you can assume that they know what they’re doing with this one and he’ll have every chance. 

Mike De Kock saddles Sanshaawes, a South African geldling who has only been on course a few times but is Group 1 placed and will have benefitted from his first run at Meydan a few weeks ago when finishing fourth despite going off as the post time favourite. Punters will find him trading at a 5/1 margin with most major European bookmakers. 

The real one to watch here though may be Layali Al Andalus who has finished second in both efforts over the Tapeta at Meydan and just missed out by a head in a similar contest a few weeks back. At 9/1, he could be poised to make the breakthrough with Richard Mullen booked for the trip. 

The next one up is the UAE 2000 Guineas, which is a Group 3 affair going 1m over the Tapeta. It looks as though another Godolphin charge, Long John, is the betting favourite - again with Barzalona booked for the trip. He’s making a seasonal debut after being shipped over from Australia where he was a Group 1 winner of the Caulfield Guineas over the turf. This is a confident move from the blue team and you can expect this one to fire though the price of 2/1 and the lack of a prep run over the surface may complicate things.